PCJF Files Appellate Brief to Uphold Brooklyn Bridge Ruling

PCJF Files Appellate Brief to Uphold Brooklyn Bridge Ruling

Posted on January 14, 2013

The PCJF has filed a major brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in this matter. The brief is in opposition to the efforts by the NYPD to overturn U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff's ruling in favor of the protestors in this case.

Judge Rakoff found that officers are subject to civil liability for causing the mass arrest of over 700 protestors on the Brooklyn Bridge. The PCJF's brief defends the lower court ruling that found no reasonable police officer could have made the arrests, given the absence of fair warning to the vast majority of those arrested. The PCJF argued that Judge Rakoff’s ruling was proper, and given the video evidence, it is clear that police led and escorted the marchers across the roadway of the bridge and, having done so, could not lawfully conduct the arrest without giving notice or warning to the protestors, and then could only have arrested persons who were willfully defiant of lawful police orders (if there were any).